


Oh no! It's High School!

by imperialMachine



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, High School AU, M/M, Multi, Murder, Romance, Sex, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-05 01:38:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20480801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imperialMachine/pseuds/imperialMachine
Summary: High school is one of the most important years in a person’s life, if not the most important! It’s a time of self discovery, struggles, and resolve for the future. However, times like this fly by in an instant and one can wonder what happens in a span of 9 months.





	1. Talent Show!?!

The sun shines over the horizon enough for people to wake up and get ready for school. As for those who cannot wake up around this time require an alarm to wake them. Some are morning people, but some are bundles of grouch in the morn. John Egbert, however, is not one of those people. He’d be more than happy to stay home and sleep for another hour, but this is not college! He didn’t get to choose when to go to his classes or what he wanted to learn. This is high school, John! Get up!

“John, get up! It’s time for school!” His dad calls from downstairs in the living room, while preparing breakfast for his son and also adjusting his tie for work. 

John, begrudgingly, pulls himself out of bed and rubs the sleep dust from his eyes. He pulls the blankets over his shoulders and bring them with him to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. After a good long minute of zoning out in the mirror he goes to put his glasses on and some clothes.

Before he could sit out and enjoy some fresh made pancakes and toast, his father calls from outside for John to hurry up. Snatching a pancake, he bolted out of the door to start his first day of being a senior. 

Once John’s at school, he’s greeted with two of his best friends. Dave comments on how you look like shit and you give him a punch on the shoulder. “I’m not a morning person!” He argues. 

Something was missing, more like someone. Jade isn’t here yet. She usually gets to school late anyway, so they all went into the building without her. He feels bad for not waiting, but he didn’t wanna risk getting in trouble for not showing up to homeroom on time. 

During third period, John somehow got caught between a fight between Eridan Ampora and Sollux Captor, who are both friends with your fellow buddy, Karkat. He doesn’t really like John that much because of all the galling insults he spews at him. But it’s okay though, because he knows Karkat doesn’t really hate him like he says he does. If he meant it, he would’ve stopped talking to him a long time ago.

“The three of you are all in detention!” Ms. Paint shouts loud enough, through the shouting teen boys and girls chanting: “FIGHT! FIGHT!” 

“But I wasn’t involved in the fight!” John tried to defend himself but to his dismay, Ms. Paint is not up for negotiations. The Captor/Ampora fight left her classroom in disarray, leaving her to clean this mess up after school today.

Later today, John had to sit in the delinquent room with all the other delinquents including Vriska Serket, the school’s mightiest bitch (don’t mess with her), Sollux Captor, the tech geek who is surprisingly strong for having skinny arms, Eridan Ampora, the rich boy who really doesn’t belong in this atmosphere, and the Jade Harley, the one who’s always tardy and makes up for it in detention. 

On the first day of school and this is what has hit him in the face. So much for it being his year. Sollux and Ampora are sitting in the front spewing insults at each other like their life depends on it. John cringes and sticks to doing his homework. 

Vriska leans over, watching him do this homework. “Hey, mind doing mine too while you’re at it?”

He turns his head to see Vriska in his personal space. He wants to tell her no because he hates doing homework as much as the next guy but before he can respond, Sollux interrupts. “I thought I was gonna do your homework.” He says, his lisp thick as ever under his teeth.

“It’s English, mustard boy.” She tells him. Calling him mustard boy has been a running gag since middle school when Sollux showed up to school with a huge mustard stain on his white shirt, but it was actually pee from his dog. He told everyone that it was old mustard. “It’s not like you’d be good at that, seeing as you can’t even speak it very well because of your lisp!” 

“Well, at least I didn’t get caught stealing teachers’ wallets because you can’t seem to have you own identity.” Sollux mocked her, creating an awkward silence in the room. In Vriska’s title, it says specifically not to mess with her. John almost feels scared for Sollux, but not enough to completely defend him, as he was the one who put John in detention in the first place. 

Ampora butts in, breaking the silence. “He’s just joking. Tell her, Sol.” He’s even scared for Sollux too.

“What’s stopping me from rearranging your face?” Vriska asked, with her upper lip slightly arched in a bitter frown.

“Nothing really,” He answers, truthfully. “But you’d be doing me a favor if you punch me in the face.”

She leans back into the seat and snaps her neck away from Sollux’s sight. She doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction of “doing him a favor”. Probably to fix his fucked up teeth, she thought.  
John would talk to Jade if she wasn’t passed out in her desk, snoring quite loudly. Just as John was about to wake her, the teacher comes in and dismisses everyone. He shook her shoulder and she woke up confused went along with him.

They walk towards the exist, seeing some students haven’t left yet because of clubs or other activities. Or simply because they do not wish to go home. 

“So, why were you late today? It’s the first day of school.” He asks her, holding the door for her as they leave the building. 

“Well, it’s not because of insomnia this time!” She chirped, jokingly. Her eyes quickly lost its’ optimism. “It’s my grandpa. He’s sick.”

“I’m so sorry, Jade.” He couldn’t help but feel sorry because he knew that her grandfather was her only guardian. Eventually, he knew that the day will come when she’s all on her own. He has offered her to live with him and his dad because Jade was like a sister to John, even though they’re cousins. But they are close enough. John noticed his dad waiting for him in front of the school. “My dad could take you home if you don’t have a ride.”

He earned a smile from her. “Thanks, John. But I live a few blocks down.” 

Opening the passenger seat, he reassures her. “Are you sure you don’t want a ride?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine!” She flicks her wrist down like it’s no problem. 

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He gets in the car and shuts the door. John’s dad waves a ‘bye’ at her and they drive off. 

Two months go by and the principal call every student to the auditorium for an important message. Principal Peregrine stood on the stage and told everyone to quiet down so she could talk about the talent show. “We are hosting a talent show only for seniors to raise money for breast cancer. Now, if anyone wants to be involved please raise your hands.”

There were murmurs amongst the crowd on who wanted to go sing on stage or do something stupid. Feferi Peixies raised her hand, not for volunteering, but asked if the performance could be anything the students wanted.

“Yes, which is why it’s strictly for seniors. You guys are old enough to explore whatever you want and it’s for a good cause.” Principal Peregrine explained.

“What do we get out of it?” John hears Vriska ask several seats behind him. 

“It’s not what you get, miss Serket. It’s what you can give.” She crossed her arms, as the light of the stage glistened on her black suit. 

“Sounds boring to me.” Vriska commented a little too loud, enough for everyone to hear and agree with her.

“Well, if you are driven by something, I’ll let you on a little secret.” Principal Peregrine tucked a strand of her white hair behind her ear. Everyone instinctively leaned in on their seats to hear what she has to say. “As you know, the most popular clique in school graduated last year. And now there stands no popular clique by this standard. This could be your chance to be popular, to be the face of our school and represent us.” 

The crowd begins to murmur to themselves again. Vriska took the idea as leadership and she knew she would be great at it. She has her little crew outside of school, so leading Sburb High School would be a piece of cake. Much like Vriska, many people saw themselves as leaders and they began to consider the idea of joining the talent show for their own means. 

One by one the students raised their hands to join in on the talent show. Principal Peregrine and Vice Principal Wayward Vagabond took down the names of the students who decided to join. John joined, not because he’s interested in leading a school, but because he supports raising money for a good cause. Dave and Jade joined too, and they wanted to show their talents. Jade proposed to do it as a band, to which John and Dave agree. 

Vriska had arranged for Terezi and Tavros to be in her band because she knew that they’re moderately okay, musical talent-wise. Terezi has a surprisingly nice voice and she can play the bass guitar really well. Tavros practiced playing the drums for quite some time when he used to be in a band with Gamzee, which lasted for three days. Vriska is competent when it comes to types of guitars, and she’s planning to have a solo during the show. 

The students began to plan ideas for their talents. 

“The talent show will occur in three weeks, leaving you two weeks to practice and give us your best!” She cheered. “For the time being, you are all dismissed!”

Everyone cheered and began to leave the auditorium. 

Once everyone was out, Jade commented on how they were really going to be a band together. “I’m so excited!” She squealed. 

“Yeah, are you sure you don’t wanna join us, Lalonde?” Dave asked his sister.

“Yes.” She answers. “I’m not musically talented.”

“Psssshhhh! Yeah, you are! I’ve heard you play the violin.” John calls her out on her BS. “You’re really good!”

“That’s different. My mom made me play the violin, so it’s her talent.” She rebutted. Pushing the door to the school open to leave. 

“But it’s your hands, silly.” Jade laughs, following the others out. 

“Guys, should we go to the Burger Place?” Dave asked. “I mean, Principal P. let us out early.”

“It’s probably open by now.” John says as they walk to the Burger Place. Stupid name, but they makes really good burgers and it’s the perfect place for hangouts. 

Dave orders his usual burger. Rose orders a pizza, just to spite Dave, knowing he’ll be mad over her buying a pizza at a burger place. Jade orders herself a chicken nuggets with a free cookie. It’s free cookie Friday. John was the last one to order a burger with fries and a drink. Upon walking to his seat where his friends were, he bumps into a girl spilling his drink on her. This is almost as bad as a shitty romcom. 

“Oh, my god. I’m sorry!” John cried. He set his tray down went to grab some napkins to dab her dry, seeing as how pathetic he must’ve looked, he stopped. He realized it’s one of Vriska’s friends, Terezi Pyrope. Vriska was planning to do the talent show with her. 

“You’re paying for the cleaning.” She frowned, bumping passed his shoulder and out the door. He watched her go as guilt consumed him. He returned back to his friends without a drink.

“Man,” Dave started, “I’m surprised she didn’t smite you right there.”

“Yeah, she’s friends with Vriska.” Jade agrees. “Who knows what she’ll do.”

“Guys, should I be scared?” John asked. “Since she’s affiliated with the Mightiest Bitch in School.”

“Only slightly.” Rose masticates on her pizza slice. John doesn’t know whether she’s joking or not, but he’s scared regardless

“I’m being serious! Am I gonna fear going home at night or to the movies alone?” John looks around fearfully.

“I mean, Tavros is associated with Vriska and he’s harmless!” Jade explained, dipping a nugget into one of the sauce packets. “Have any of you spoken to Terezi?”

“I did.” Dave said, raising a hand. Everyone turned their attention to him. “We dated in middle school.”

“What?!” John and Jade exclaimed at the same time, with John nearly falling out of his seat in shock.

“Ooh, scandal.” Rose coos with a smirk.

“What is she like?” John pestered, curious as to what Vriska’s pawns was like before high school and also because Dave somehow managed to get close to someone who should be feared.. “Is she what Jade said?”

“She’s cool and liked to eat chalk. She never gets mad. She used to say she ‘only seeks justice.’” Dave recalls his memories with Terezi. He remembers her as a chalk eating, justice seeking chick. Things could be different now as people grow apart and find better things to indulge in. “But she could’ve changed, who knows.”

“How come we didn’t know about this?” John asked.

“I knew about it.” Rose chimed, wiping the pizza sauce from her mouth.

“I thought I was pretty obvious about it.” Dave shrugged and took a bite out of his burger.

"I did think it was kinda suspicious how she was invited to your 14th birthday." Jade commented as she was about to take a drink out of her bepsi cup. 

As Jade slurped on her straw, sucking the soda in, Rose assured John. "Lucky for you, Kanaya is also friends with Terezi."

"Wait, really?" John rubs the back of his head, genuinely confused. The simple thought of a nice girl like Kanaya hanging out with a scary girl, such as Terezi, could not get into John's head. 

"Kanaya says she's really caring." Rose says. "But my take on this is that you should find out for yourself. " 

He couldn't believe what Rose was implying. She wants him to be friends with Terezi. That could never happen! She's out of his league, almost scary even. But he did ruin her shirt with a cold Dr. Peep. Maybe befriending her would lower his chances of finding his end in a grave. "If it gets me out of her list, or Vriska's, then I'll do it." 

"Relax, sour pus. It's not like you're dating her." Dave tries to cheer you up. "If anything, you're probably out of her league, which is a good thing. The chick is nuts.."

"I thought you said she was cool." John said, while Dave sipped on a packet on AJ.

"AJ is the finest poison a man can drown himself in." Dave admired apple juice for its simplicity and rich tastes.

John cringed at the color of AJ, for it had a piss yellow color to it and it can fool anyone if they replaced it with urine. Only he would know, he's been pranked with urine multiple times that the sheer sight makes him remember the tang of pee on his tongue. "I don't think I'll ever drink apple juice ever again."

"Oh, I know." John couldn't see it, but Dave was winking at him in a mocking kind of way. 

After everyone finished their meals, Dave left to go to work at the Zoo in the city, John went to work at the Shore Mall's arcade, while Rose decided to hang out with Kanaya because it's her day off. As for Jade she goes home to take care of her grandpa. He's only getting worst under these conditions and it's breaking her heart to see her guardian like this. 

More often than not, Jade has considered living with John and his Dad, but she feels she's going to be a burden for them. But what other choice does she have at this point? There's no way she can pay off grandpa's house by herself and there's no way she could give up that house, it held all her childhood memories. Even the bad one, when her parents decided to walk out on her. Grandpa did his best to give Jade all the love and care in the world despite doing it alone. When she gets home, she should thank him for caring for her when no one did.

Vriska swiped her finger over her phone on the lists of songs she has downloaded. "Ugh, which song should I play?" She grimaced as she paced around in her living room. 

"Just pick a song that you like." Tavros suggested, while he plays pokemon on his Nintendo 3Ds on Vriska's couch. 

The front door suddenly opens and Terezi walks, slamming it shut. Vriska catches Terezi walking by. "Hey, where were you? We need to- what happened to your shirt?" She points to Terezi's white shirt soaked in brown soda.

"Some dick bumped into me and spilled his drink." Terezi says. 

"Aw, boo!" Vriska manages an exaggerated sad face, with her finger running down her cheek as a tear. "Who was it anyways?"

"You remember Dave, right? From middle school?" Terezi asks, crossing her arms over the wet shirt.

"No idea who that is." Vriska swipes through her phone again, paying no mind to Terezi.

"It's Dave's friend. Jim… Joe.. John?" Terezi scratches her cheek with a finger, trying to recall John's name.

"John?" Vriska repeats, taking her eyes away from her phone. "As in John Egbert, the nobody?

"You know him?" Terezi asks.

"Ha! Barely!" Vriska laughed. "He's in my English class and we had detention together. Other than that he's just a pawn in a pool of irrelevant people." 

"That's really mean, Vriska." Tavros butts in, taking his attention away from his game.

"Shut up, Peterpan wannabe. You haven't been doing anything besides sit there and play your stupid game!" Vriska snapped at him, causing Tavros to sink in his seat on the couch.  
"I'm gonna steal one if your shirts." Terezi says, pointing with her thumb at the stairs.

"Don't take any of my new shirts." Vriska warns as Terezi speeds up the stairs. 

"Yeah, yeah! Whatever!" She yells from Vriska's room. 

Terezi searched through Vriska's closet for a cute shirt. She can't believe that four eyed blue boy ruined your clean vanilla milkshake shirt with Dr. Peep! She'll sought out to find her justice, but for the time being she has to find a shirt. 

This will do. Terezi pulled out one of Vriska's band shirts, Arctic Monkeys. She pulled off her white shirt over her head and tossed it in the dirty clothes bin. Vriska won't mind doing her laundry too, she presumes. 

Vriska slid her arms on Tavros shoulders and wrapped them around his neck. She pecked his cheek, as he crossed his arms in irksome attitude. "Is this your way of saying sorry?" He asked with a bitter feeling from his tongue.

"Are you going to forgive me?" She asks in a coquettish tone.

"Vriska, we talked about this." Tavros says, forcefully.

"I know. I need to work on my people skills."

"At this point, it's not even a people skill anymore." He says. "Is this when you tell me that you'll change or you'll do better?" 

"Aw, you know me so well!" She says, enthusiastically, hiding behind her facade, but deep down feeling completely wretched.

Terezi came down the stairs, causing Vriska quickly let go of Tavros and composing her posture. "You guys picked a song yet?" Terezi asked, ignoring seeing Vriska pretend she wasn't just hugging Tavros while she was gone.

"That's the thing, I can't choose one." Vriska shrugs.

"Just chose a song you like." Terezi answered, nonchalantly.

"I want a song that we can all play, a song that will also wow the fuck out of the crowd, and most importantly," she paused for dramatic affect, "the crowd will no doubt chose me over anyone else." 

"You really wanna chose music other people like?" Tavros asked, turning back towards Vriska.

"No, I just need this. Maybe everyone will stop being scared of me and those rumors would finally come to an end!" Vriska explained, anger in her voice. 

"So, this is all for your image?"Terezi asks, already knowing the answer.

"Look," Vriska rubs her temple with her thumb and index finger with an irritating look on her face. "you're not the one always going to detention just for looking at a teacher weird. I just want a little respect."

Tavros and Terezi look at each other, with doubt on their minds. How can she gain respect from everyone if she's known to be the worst person in school to be friends with because she'll continuously betray everyone. But lucky for Vriska, Tavros and Terezi can see through her shitty teen rebellious nature. 

"And besides, it might be fun for us!" She put on a fake smiley face, concerning Vriska's two only friends. 

"Okay, we'll help you. Just stop with that superficial atrocity you just pulled." Terezi says, cringing under her skin. She takes a seat in the couch and Vriska also sits down too.

"I like nice Vriska." Tavros commented, making Vriska crack an uncomfortable smile. 

"I like nice Vriska too, when she actually means it!" Terezi laughs, taking out her phone. 

"Whatever!" Vriska growls. "Let's just pick out a song already!" 

John lays in his bed after coming home from a loud day at work, full of screaming kids, the putrid smell of hotdogs and watching the customers stuffing their faces with ketchup and mustard concoction. The sun's already down, leaving the sky to the stars and light pollution. The whole band thing was on his mind the whole day. He doesn't even know what song to sing, or if he even should sing. But this is for a good cause. Deep down he wants the recognition and the excitement of trying something new.

He rolls on his side and checks his phone, trying anything to distract himself from having doubts. Scrolling on Facebook, he sees Terezi Pyrope in his recommended friends list. Her profile picture is her with the camera too close to her face. He clicked on her page, out of curiosity, and scrolled through it. She mostly posts memes and the pictures she shared are of her reptilian pets, consisting of a gecko, a bearded dragon, and a small alligator? Despite the odd choices in pets, John is amused by her fascination with reptiles. 

There's a flagged video she posted. John clicks on it. Terezi's wearing her signature pointy, red shades and she's introducing her pet alligator, named Redglare.

"I really don't recommend anyone getting an alligator for a pet. It just so happens that this girl was stunted and it left her to be this small." Terezi explained in the video. She moved the camera to Redglare's home. It's an enclosure but the size of the whole room. There's a kiddie pool and a rock under a lamp. There's no top to the cage and it's made of plastic. There's a pink bucket and an orange ball floating in the pool. Redglare sits in the pool, floating and relaxing. 

"I have to set the camera down for this. If you are sensitive to this type of content, I recommend looking away or clicking off. These animals were pre-killed before being served, and I know it seems cruel, but these guys need to eat too." Terezi mentions in the video. Setting it down behind her, she picks up the bucket. With her tongs she pulls out a frozen thawed rabbit and holds it into the enclosure. 

"Redglare, it's dinner time!" She says. through the glass, Redglare reached up to snatch the rabbit and chewed on it. 

Terezi dropped the tongs into the bucket and brought the camera to the alligator crunching on the rabbit. "I don't think she'll be hungry for a week!" Redglare crawls away to hide eating her meal.

"Sorry, she's a bit shy sometimes." She laughs, nervously. She turns the camera to herself again. "Sorry, if it's not that interesting. But.. this is my alligator." 

And the video ends. John noticed that she has 100 views on it. Some of the comments said mean things to her, telling her that she's a bad person for feeding a cute animal to that creature. Others were defending her, saying that she's taking care of her pet. John scrolled further down and he saw that almost all of his friends are friends with Terezi. And he's just noticing this now? 

Why is he even thinking about her anyway? He just wanted to know the girl who's going to kill him. She doesn't seem so bad. Without a second thought, he hit the add friend button.

"Fuck!" John practically yelled. "What did I just do?" 

He rolled over on his stomach and buried his head into the pillow. Now she's going to know that he's been stalking her and she's going to call him out on it. Or maybe she won't! She'll probably forget about it by Monday. Unless she's already telling someone! John opened his messages with Dave, he has to tell him! He can't! Dave's gonna take it the wrong way when he finds out that John was stalking his ex girl. He sets his phone down on his chest, thinking how his tombstone would look like when Terezi and the whole school kill him.

His phone buzzes. Oh, no. It must be Dave. John really hoped he didn't subconsciously text Dave about his fuck up. He checks the home. It's not Dave. In fact, it's Terezi. 

TEREZI: 1 HOP3 YOU H4V3 THE MON3Y TO P4Y FOR MY DRY CL34N1NG!!  
JOHN: i'm really sorry about today.  
TEREZI: 1S TH4T WHY YOU FR13ND3D M3???  
JOHN: no, well you see, it was an accident.  
JOHN: my dog accidentally friended you.  


John smacked himself for that stupid excuse. He doesn't have a dog! 

TEREZI: YOU KNOW, 1 H4V3 4 R34LLY GOOD SC3NC3 OF SM3LL  
TEREZI: 1T'S SO STRONG 1 COULD 3V3N SM3LL COLOR  
JOHN: really? that's cool!  
TEREZI: 1T'S 4LR1GHT  
TEREZI: BUT TH3 B3ST TH1NG 4BOUT 1T 1S  
TEREZI: 1 C4N SM3LL WH3N SOM3ON3'S BULLSH1TT1NG!!  


Fuck. Actually, John isn't surprised because even he knows how dumb he is. He's stuck between telling Terezi the truth, that he was stalking her, or go with the whole dog thing. 

Lucky for John, Terezi changes the subject. She asks him about the talent show and if he's joining. They go back and forth with texts. until John realizes it's 3 in the morning and he's been having a 5 hour conversation with Terezi this entire time. It occurred to him that Dave was right, she IS cool. Aside from her insults, but John just thinks that she's opening up to him. However, it's far from the truth.

Although his eyes felt tired, he still wanted to talk to Terezi some more. At this point, the two kept throwing petty insults at each other. Maybe it was because they were both tired that they were angry. Eventually Terezi stopped responding to John's banter because she fell asleep. 

JOHN: did you fall asleep?  
JOHN: i win! i'm the superior one!  


John rolls on his back and shut his eyes so he can finally sleep. 

The light of the sun cracks through his window as John lays face first on his bed, leg dangling off the edge. Dave stands in his room with a bottle of apple juice in his hand. Fuck, he's in a deep sleep, he thought. He poked at John's cheek.

"Dave, what's taking so long?" Jade calls while walking up the stairs to John's room. Once she arrives, she sees Dave about to draw on John's face. "Dave!" She whisper-yells.

"Shh!" He hushed as he was inching the marker closer, John cracks open his eyes. Dave and Jade scrambled to look casual.

John sits up, and blinks at them. "Dave? Jade? What are you doing in my room?" He asks, with his eyes half open. 

"Uh, we were supposed to practice today!" Jade said, looking stiff.

"Yeah, didn't you get my text yesterday?" Dace says. 

What text? John thought. Then he realized that he ignored Dave's text from yesterday because he was talking to Terezi."Oh, yeah!" He lied. He totally didn't know they were gonna do it today. 

"Well, get dressed and we'll go wait downstairs." Jade says, cheerfully as she walks out the door.

"Dave, you guys picked a song already?" John asks before Dave leaves too.

"Technically no, which is why we're practicing today. You're our lead singer. " Dave says. 

"What! I didn't agree to that!" John got out of his bed.

"Well, we can rule Jade out because she has stage fright. I can't do it because I'm on the drums, and I also can't sing." Dave explains.

"I've heard you rap." 

"That's rapping. We're singing here, Egbert. We have to capture the hearts of the people with song, not rad lyrics and beatboxing."

"Well, when you put it like that it doesn't sound so bad. " John says. "You could've warned me first." 

"Jade was supposed to. I guess she forgot." Dave says before shutting John's door for him to change into something that isn't his work clothes. He can't believe he slept in this. 

After slipping into casual clothing, John joined his friends downstairs. They decided to go to Rose’s house because she has a big enough garage to do band stuff. Luckily, Rose and Dave’s older half sister, Roxy, has a drum set for Dave.

Occasionally, Rose and Dave’s older half brother, Dirk shows up sometimes. Today just so happens to be one of those days. When he heard that Dave was playing in a talent show, he took time off from work to see him play, but most importantly, he wanted to see Dave mess up. Roxy also wanted to see her two favorite kid siblings. 

Due to a strange twist of fate, Roxy’s mom and Dirk’s dad got together and they became step siblings. Then later, their parents had twins, which are Rose and Dave. 

Roxy is so nice to everyone and she’s hardworking, which is why John had a crush on her during sophomore year. They had marine biology together and they would sit in the back of the class and talk about nothing. He showed her some of his magic tricks and it made her laugh. Unfortunately, John never got the chance to tell her that he liked her. It’s probably for the best because she’s off to better and newer things.

“Okay, so we picked three songs.” Dave says, while grabbing the guitar and the bass guitar. “Well, Jade picked the songs.”

“They’re really good!” Dave passed her the bass and she sets the microphone in the front of the garage. “And you’re playing the electric!” She gives John the guitar and he plugs it into the amps. 

“The songs are The Handler, by Muse.” Rose stated. “Stockholm Syndrome, and Unnatural Selection, both by Muse, though, the last song is a bit lengthy.”

“Uh, we’ll try Plug in Baby and then Stockholm.” John says.

Thus they prepared themselves. Jade strummed her guitar and then tuned it so that it sounds good. Dave took his position on the seat for the drums and adjusted his mic, because he’s John’s backup singer. John stood at the front, tuning his guitar. Roxy and Dirk sat in the back watching as they practiced playing. 

While they practiced, Vriska’s band also practiced Plug in Baby because it’s the song that Terezi really like and she thinks she can hit those notes. She finally got Vriska to agree because she also likes the song. They practiced decided to practice in Tavros’ basement because it was big enough. Tavros’ brother, Rufioh, and Terezi’s sister, Latula, decided to join them to watch them train. 

Terezi voice sang the song with her raspy voice, giving it that rock feel. Vriska was her backup singer. After the first song, they played Somebody Told Me, by The Killers, then Faceless, by Red.

They practiced for 4 hours, until they decided that it was time for a break. Terezi flicked open a bottle of water and chugged it down. Her mouth became dry from singing for so long. During the training process, the three kept going out of sync because their flow wasn’t all the same. Vriska wanted to go fast, while Terezi is singing in pace, and Tavros was kinda slow. Vriska kept saying that they could do this and didn’t give up. Even Rufioh gave words of encouragement. 

“You guys are doing great!” Latula commented. “I can’t believe my lil sis is in a band.” She wipes a fake tear from her cheek.

“We have to be better, Latula!” Vriska exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

“I’m gonna order something. Do you guys want anything?” Tavros asked, holding his phone out. Everyone told him what they wanted and they split the cash to pay for it. “I also invited Gamzee.”

“Oh, yay. Terezi’s lover-boy.” Vriska teased, jabbing her on the waist. 

“Shut up!” Terezi stuck her tongue out and hung the guitar up on the stand. She goes over to Latula and sits next to her.

“Oooh, lil Rezi got herself a boyfriend?” Latula says in a sing-song voice. 

“Totally!” Vriska answers for her. 

“I mean I guess?” Terezi shrugs, not really sure how to answer. He's her kind of boyfriend.

“No, she means for sure!” Vriska joins them on the couch. “They’re so into each other!”

“We kissed once!” Terezi laughs, sticking up her index finger. It was true, throughout their relationship, they only kissed once and it was at a party that Vriska went to. The only reason Terezi was there was so that Gamzee wasn’t third wheeling, and Tavros felt bad for doing it.

Gamzee wasn’t a bad dude, he was always quiet and talked in a low husky voice. He was a singer apparently, but he wore this weird clown makeup, that Terezi found kinda cute. Later during the party, they hooked up. After that, they barely talked. Sometimes, when he was high he would accidentally text her. He never actually asked her out, they just happened. She wasn’t sure if Gamzee actually liked her.

There Terezi saw Gamzee walk down the stairs in ripped black jeans, a purple belt, and a gray shirt, with his signature juggalo makeup. He goes to find a seat. “What you motherfuckers up to?”

“We’re practicing for the talent show.” Tavros responds, as Gamzee pulls out a blunt. He lights it up and presses it to his lips, he inhales the smoke. 

“You got some and you’re not gonna share, Makara!” Latula yells. Gamzee hands it to her and she takes a deep breath of cannabis. She exhales as the smoke leaves her mouth. “Yeah.” She leans back into her bean bag chair.

Tavros’ phone rings. “The food is here. I’ll be right back!” He gets up and goes upstairs to get the food. Gamzee hands Vriska the blunt and excuses himself to the bathroom, going upstairs too. Vriska takes a hit, puffing smoke through her nose. 

“Are we finished with practice?” Terezi asks. “Because I don’t look forward to getting high today.”

Vriska passes the blunt to Rufioh.” You can leave if you want.” Vriska says.

Although, Vriska says this Terezi knows she can’t just leave Vriska with these people. She decides to stay. When Gamzee and Tavros comes back, they enjoy their food while getting high. Gamzee offers weed to Terezi and she declines. Maybe another day, but not today. While the room is clouded by the smoke and smell, they began to talk slower and make up fantasy stories. Terezi excuses herself to the bathroom and sits on the toilet lid, running her hands through her hair. She opens the window and feels the cool breeze on her skin. The scent of weed escapes the window and it feels refreshing.

Terezi closes her eyes, wishing that she was anywhere else right now. Her mind drifts to the side effects of weed and how it can make her feel unlike herself at this moment. Then she thought, that's exactly what she needs right now. She goes back into the basement again. Everyone is pretty much laying around, red-eyed and chilling. She snatches the blunt from Gamzee and inhales deeply. Gamzee was so faded that he didn’t notice her pulling another weed cigarette from his shirt pocket along with his lighter. She exhales, leaving a trail of smoke out her mouth then she puts his joint back in his hand and turns to leave up the stairs. 

“Where ya goin’, my bitch tits sis?” Gamzee asks, with Tavros leaning his head on his shoulder and Vriska’s laying on the floor facing the ceiling.

“For a walk.” Terezi says.

“I hope you plan on returning my lighter.” Shit. He knew. Maybe he’s not as high as she thought he would be. She continued to go upstairs and leave Tavros’ house.

It’s darker than usual and colder since it’s autumn. Terezi hugged herself as she lit the blunt and sucked in. She feels relaxed but not enough to stop walking. It’s dangerous for a girl to be walking alone, especially when the sun’s going down faster than usual. Not to mention that she’s high. 

After about an hour of walking, her cigarette is half of its original length. It took her awhile to realize that she’s in the wrong neighborhood. This one isn’t littered with garbage and potholes in the street, like where Tavros lives. This neighborhood is clean with no potholes and green grass! She thought about calling Vriska, but she’ll probably just ignore the call because she’s too high to even notice a sound. 

John and his friends sit around the garage eating sandwiches because they practiced all day and they needed food. Luckily, Dave and Rose’s mom came home and made them some food. Roxy was telling the story of how when she was in high school she entered the talent show and played the cello. 

“Dirky also joined in too and he was playin’ on his dj stand thingy!” She mentions. 

“Rox, it’s not a ‘dj stand thingy’. They’re call turntables.” Dirk corrected her. “And my shit was sick.”

“Oh, yeah and Meenah Peixes was rappin’ about fish puns while Dirky here was her beatbox boy!” Roxy laughs, pushing Dirk’s shoulder.

“Hey, the rich chick paid me to do it.” Dirk says while opening an orange soda can. “I got 50 bucks outta her for being a beatboxing master.”

“Master?” Dave says in disbelief. “Who ever called you that is a fucking liar.”

“It’s true. Anyone who goes against me faces the wrath of hard beats and spit.” Dirk sips on the soda.

“What if you actually win?” Rose asks.

“We could always give it to anyone who wants it.” John explains. “I mean the whole school is obsessed with being ‘somebody’.” It’s ironic for John to say this because he’s doing the same thing too, in a way.

“It’s not like America’s Got Talent, where you aren’t chosen.” Jade adds, then takes a bite out of her sandwich.

“Yeah! Lets have more people join so that it lasts the whole day, and we won’t get to have classes!” John cracks open a Dr. Peep and swallows it down.

“It would be unfortunate for the talent show to be on a test day.” Rose says, making everyone, except Roxy and Dirk, uncomfortable.

“Yeah, that would be really bad.” Jade says, almost in a whimper. 

As everyone was amongst themselves, John glances out of the garage, he notices a familiar female. Is that Terezi? He wondered what she was doing here and most importantly why. Was she going to kill him like she said she would during their late night texts? There’s no way she was serious about that, John thought. 

She was walking like she lost which way is right. John texted her to see if she’ll notice him in Rose’s garage. She doesn’t notice. She begins to rustle her hair, rubbing her head. John gets up and calls Terezi’s name, waving at her. She takes notice and squints at him.

She doesn’t know who that is. He walks towards and she recalls him being the dude that bumped into her yesterday, who also talked to her for the whole night. Right. It’s John Egbert.

“Geez, you look like shit.” John says when he gets close enough to her. He can smell the herb off her. “And you’re high too?”

“You’re high.” She says, pointing the joint at him.

Everyone in the garage watched as John talks to Terezi. “Are they friends?” Jade asks, setting her plate down.

“If they were, then I’d be as shocked as you guys.” Dave commented. 

“I saw you from Rose’s house and it looked like you’re lost.” John points to the house and turns back to her. 

“I lost where I was.” Terezi looks down at her shoes. “But I don’t wanna go back.”

“Well, let me take you home.” John offers. “A lady shouldn’t be out in the dark, you know. Especially since she’s high off a plant.” 

She nods, knowing she probably doesn’t even know where her house is. 

“Okay, I’m just gonna say goodbye to my friends.” John walks back to everyone else.

“What was that about?” Dave asks, sipping another bottle of apple juice.

“Terezi’s high and she’s lost, so I’m gonna take her home.” John says. 

“Look at you, baby Egbert being a gentleman!” Roxy cheering with a soda can in her hand. 

“Okay, well be careful. We’re gonna take a break tomorrow because I figured your voicebox is fucked from today.” Dave says.

“Alright! Bye!” John walks away towards his car parked in front of the garage. Terezi walks towards him, and gets in the passenger seat. They watch him as he backs up and gets on the street. 

Terezi sucks on the blunt again. “Hey, stop that. There will be no smoking in my car.” John warns, while having his eyes on the road. 

She takes a hit again. “You want some?” She holds it up to John’s face.

“No!” He pushes her hand away from him. So this is the Terezi everyone’s scared of.

“I’m hungry.” She says. “I haven’t eaten in years!” 

“Will you get rid of that thing?” 

“No! You’re gonna waste it!” She covers the thing with her hand away from John.

“If I take you to go get some food, will you get rid of the devil's lettuce?” John asks, sounding stern.

“Maybe.” Terezi answers like a child hiding a secret.

He drives to the nearest 7eleven store and he buys four burgers, two for him and two for her. He even bought a cherry slurpy for himself. What is he doing? She’s basically a stranger to him and they’re not even close to being friends, but she looked like she needed help. This could all be a trap and when she has the moment she’ll strike him. 

Returning to the car, he sees his windows in covered in clouds of white. He goes over to the driver’s seat and opens the door. “You hotboxed my car?” He exclaimed.

“Whoops.” Terezi smiles big with teeth and everything. John rolls down the windows and airs out the fumes. He sits next to her as he tosses her the two burgers.

John unwraps the paper off the burger and takes a bite. He knows he just ate from Rose’s house but that wasn’t enough for his growing man body. It was quiet until Terezi gasps loudly.  
“What? What happened?” He asks in a panic.

“I ran out of grass.” Terezi says, sadly as she showed John the small blunt. 

“Good. Throw it out.” John tells her. “I thought you said you were hungry, why aren’t you eating?”

“I wanted to finish this.” Terezi sucks in the fumes. “Have you even tried it?”

“No.” John lied. He did try it once with Dave. But they weren’t smoking it, they use edibles. And if he knew that they worked slower, he would’ve just eaten one. That time, they got so fucked. It’s funny to think back to that.

“I smells bullshit.” She doesn’t even speak proper english anymore. Terezi flicks the blunt out the window then unwraps the paper from the burger and takes a bite out of it. She sighs. “I saw him again.”

Before you could ask who, she says “My boyfriend,” and holds up air quotations. “Tavros invited him over and he brought weed. We practice our song and I thought we were gonna continue but Gamzee ruined it. I just didn’t want to be there, and I didn’t wanna go home either.” 

“Wait, you’re dating the juggalo?” John asks, in shock. He never took Terezi to be interested in clowns or dudes who wear makeup. And he never thought Terezi would date the dude who almost never shows up to school, but still manages to get good grades in class. Actually, he can kinda picture that. He most certainly never thought she would be taken.

“Yup, if you even call that dating.” Terezi takes another bite. After she’s done chewing, she swallows. “I tried reaching out, but it just feels awkward.”

“Have you tried breaking up?” John asks while chewing, and curious about her relationship.

“Yes, but I don’t want him to assume that I thought we were dating.” 

“I see what you mean.” John nods. He doesn’t know what else to tell her. He’s never been in a relationship before and he’s inexperience in this subject. 

“Sorry for telling you all this.” John looks over to her. She looks so vulnerable and cute while chewing on her burger. 

“No, it’s cool.” He assures her. And curses himself for finding her slightly cute. “I get it. You just needed someone to talk to.” She smiles at him. John notices a hint of ketchup on the side of her cheek. “You got a little…” He points to his cheek, hoping she’ll get the memo.

She uses the back of her hand to wipe the spot, but she doesn’t get it. 

“Here,” John uses a napkin to wipe the ketchup off of her. 

“Thanks.” She continues to eat her food. 

John couldn’t believe what he just did. That’s such a boyfriend thing to do, but he’s not a boyfriend. 

They finished their meal and Terezi told him where she lived. He took her home and went home himself. He hoped he didn’t smell like weed when walking in through the door. He took a nice shower and threw his clothes into the dirty clothes bin. He hopped into bed and got a text. It’s from Terezi. 

TEREZIi: TH4NKS FOR TOD4Y   


John smiles. He’s glad he made her day better.

JOHN: anytime :)   


He hoped he didn’t sound too needy with the smiley face. 

However for Terezi, she’s feeling some type of way about John. Normally, people would just leave her alone, but he helped her home and fed her. She doesn’t know what his intentions are but she will find out. No one is ever this nice.

For a week the teenagers practiced their songs until they’ve learned to perfect it. As for John and Terezi, they talk on a regular basis in school and outside of school. They made fun of Sollux Captor about his romance skills, managing to woo both Aradia Megido and Feferi Peixes. The shocking part was that he wooed Aradia Megido, who’s known to be the gothic girl who’s obsessed with death and funerals. So, having the girl who barely talks to anyone date you is a miracle. How did he do it?

The school began to notice how Terezi and John have been around each other lately. It was unnatural for one of Vriska's pawns to talk to anyone else but her, especially to a nobody. Many people, like Nepeta Leijon, suspected that they’re dating. This bothered John because this was not the case. They just happened to be two friends who hang out sometimes.

John sits in lunch next to Dave and he leans over. “Hey, Dave?” He calls, catching the Strider’s attention. “Does it really look like Terezi and I are dating?”

“Kinda, yeah.” Dave answers. “It’s not like that’s a bad thing.”

“I don’t want her to get the wrong idea about us.” John says , looking at his food sitting on the table. “Not that she wouldn’t be cool to date. I just don’t want people to think that if it isn’t true.”

“You should talk to her about this.” Dave pats him on the back. 

“Is it weird for you?” John asks. “Me and Terezi being friends.”

He doesn’t answer immediately, but he does when he realizes that he’s been quiet for awhile. “It’s a little weird, not because she’s my ex-girlfriend, but because you two have never spoken to one another until last week.” He explains. “And if you two do start dating, I would be happy for you because I am not at all weirded out by it.”

He flashes a smile at John. He concludes that Dave is not cool by it at all. “Thanks, Dave.” He thanks him anyways. 

Dave checks his phone to see that Karkat texted him. He’s been talking to Karkat for a while now and they both like shitty movies. He found out that Karkat likes them unironically, which he digs that about him. They’ve only hung out a few times because Karkat is busy with work for most of the time. He works as his dad’s assistant in this company. 

Dave spent most of his day imagining Karkat in a suit, looking like a secretary. He found out that Karkat, like him, was involved with Terezi at some point, which was another thing they have in common. When he asked Karkat about it, he simply said it was complicated, much like Dave’s situation with her. 

“Who’s that?” John asks, eating his lunch.

“It’s Karkat. He was sending me a monologue of his interpretation of this book he read.” Dave says.

“You’ve been talking to him a lot.” John tells him.

“I guess.” Dave gave a short answer. 

“Dave,” John started, feelings of insecurity wore its ugly head. “Are you replacing me?”

“What-”

“Is it because I’ve been around Terezi a lot?”

“No, what-”

“You’re getting back at me by replacing your best bro.”

“John, I’m not replacing you.”

“Shhhhhh.” John holds a finger to Dave’s lips, silencing him. “I forgive you. I’ve been a bad friend to you lately. And if Karkat makes you happier than me, then so be it!”

Dave slaps John’s hand aside. “I’m not replacing you out of spite John. I just happen to find someone who shares the same interests.” Dave punches John on the arm. 

“Ow!” John cried, rubbing the now bruised spot Dave just made. 

“That’s for saying stupid shit like that.” He says. “I’ll never replace you. You’re my best friend.” He looks away at the last part. 

John smiles, and continues to eat his lunch. He knows how sentimental Dave can get and how it totally runs his cool guy stride.

It was three days until the talent show and everyone that was joining had taken so much time to practice their talent for this event. Terezi found out that Gamzee was joining in too, but he's not playing a song. Instead he's going to attempt to ride a unicycle while juggling. If Terezi knows anything about this guy, he's probably going to do it while he's high. Feferi is rumored to be dancing. Terezi can't confirm this though. Nepeta Leijon is also doing a dance. Equius Zahhak is going to attempt to crush a watermelon with his hands. Eridan Ampora is going to use science to please the crowd. And many more people who are doing variations of the same thing. 

Today wasn't a great day for John because after school he had to go to work. He practically ran out of the school to get there on time because one of the coworkers forgot to tell the manager they weren't coming in. His manager texted him to fill in for Nathan, your coworker. 

While in the car, John slipped on his work shirt that says Welcome to Player 1 Arcade! John hates this shirt, not only did he fail to watch it but it also smells like hotdogs. The arcade made him hate hotdogs for life. 

When he checked in, Joana takes her lanyard and pulls it over her head. She says goodbye to everyone and grabs her purse and leaves. John can relate. When his shift is over, he's going to get the fuck outta Dodge.

"Are there coupons here?" A white mom asks John with her three kids that look like they just got out of soccer practice.

"We don't do coupons, but if you come in at certain days the prices are much cheaper." John explained.

"That's stupid. Why don't you have coupons here?" She complained.

"Sorry ma'am, this isn't a fast food joint or the grocery store. We don't have coupons." John says, with a hint of sass.

The woman leans in and gets all threatening-like. "Maybe you should start having them." 

John doesn't crack an emotion and replies with: "I'll ask the manager about coupons, but for the time being do you want to buy tickets for the games?" The tactic he learned from his manager plays with well.

"Fine. I'll have three $15 ones." She says, calming down a bit. She pulls out her wallet and takes out the cash. 

John puts the order of 81 tickets. It prints out under the tablet and he hands them to the lady while she hands him the cash. From his peripherals he sees a familiar someone. Turning to that direction, he realizes it's Vriska with Terezi, Tavros, and Gamzee. Why are they here, John asked himself. They're here for games, of course. But if they see him they might think he's a loser who works with kids. 

They're coming over. John pretends he wasn't just looking at them. They stand in front of the counter. "John Egbert, right?" Vriska asks, resting her arm on the counter. "I hope we get a discount for going to the same school." 

She joking, right? "How many tickets would you like?" John asks.

They all order their tickets, with Terezi being the last one. "I didn't know you worked here." She smirks.

"Yeah, it isn't the greatest. You know I wasn't supposed to come in today. " John tells her, while throwing away the receipts.

"Aw, little Johnny boy wanted his wittle day off." She pouts while making a cutesy voice. 

"Says the girl who's in an arcade filled with kids!" John retorted.

"There's some adults to play the adult games." Terezi says. 

"Barely." John tells her. "They're probably kids that look like they're 30." 

While Tavros and Vriska go off to the arcade, Gamzee stayed behind for Terezi. He looks over to her and saw she's laughing with the Egbert boy. Gamzee shouldn't care about her because his heart belongs to his Tavros, but he can't help but feel annoyed by seeing her smile at someone else. She walks away from Egbert and walks over to Gamzee.

"You didn't have to wait for me, Gamzee." She says, holding her tickets.

"Couldn't walk in without a sister." He says, as they turn to go into the arcade. Gamzee wraps an arm around Terezi's shoulder and looks back at John. He's watching. Good.

They both enter the arcade and quickly find Vriska and Tavros playing Street Fighter II against each other. Vriska's mashing on the buttons like her life depends on it because her health meter is half while Tavros is full.

"Woooooooo, go Vris!!!" Terezi cheered as she finally gets a hit on Tavros. 

"You can do it Tavbro!" Gamzee cheered Tavros on while standing behind him, hands on his shoulder. 

A moment later, the screen shows in big letters and a manly voice saying K.O. "Dammit!" Vriska threw her hands up in mutiny. "I'll get you next time, Nitram!"

They go over to the racing games. Vriska pulled Terezi over and the guys follow behind. The four of them play, having teams of two. It was Vriska and Terezi versing Tavros and Gamzee. They all put their tickets in at the same time. Once they choose their character, their players lined up on the starting line. 

Once the numbers counted down to one, everyone in their little cart stands slammed on the gas, making their characters accelerate. Vriska takes the lead while Terezi's in 4th place. Tavros is in second and Gamzee is in 5th place. Gamzee bumped Terezi out of the play and takes place in 4th. 

"Gamzee! What the fuck!?" Terezi yelled.

They entered a sharp turn and Tavros cuts in front of Vriska, taking the lead. Terezi bumped her car in the rear of Gamzee's, knocking him out of the way and rushing passed him. 

"Hahahaha!" Terezi laughed. "See ya, sucker!" 

"Motherfuck!" Gamzee had been placed in 6th place because of Terezi. 

Terezi drove next to Vriska and they planned to sandwich him. When Terezi and Vriska drove up to Tavros, the finish line was just a few meters away. Vriska turned into him and they both knocked Terezi car into the wall. Tavros banged his car into Vriska, and Terezi pushed Tavros and passed him into the finish line. 

"Yes!" She threw her hands up in triumph. Vriska also cheered with her. 

They got out of the stands and high fived each other. They played almost all the games in the arcade. But when it came to Dance Dance Revolution, it was Terezi and Gamzee vs. Tavros and Vriska. The level was on hard. 

"I hope you like losing, Pyrope." Vriska says, stretching her legs

"I'm gonna make you eat those words, Serket." Terezi says, while hyping herself up to get ready to dance. 

"I hope you're good at this Vriska." Tavros says, sounding unsure. 

"We're gonna do great, sis." Gamzee pat's her on the back. 

When the game started, it was slow paced, then it progressively got harder. Tavros was the first one to get striked out. Terezi began to sweat because of her movements and Gamzee didn't even break a sweat. Eventually, Vriska lost because Tavros tripped on his own two feet.

"Fuck, yeah!" Terezi shouted. "Who's the winner now!" Gamzee picked her up and kissed her on the nose. 

For a moment, she was confused and she blushed. He's never done that before. Before Vriska and Tavros could see, he puts her down.

They walked around some more to find another game to play. A certain game caught Terezi's attention. "Hey, we should go see that zombie game over there." Terezi point to the zombie shooter game. It looked like a picture booth. They all go to it and found that it only has two seats. "Boo, there's only two seats."

"You guys can play while Tavros and I go over there. " Vriska pulled Tavros over to a photobooth. 

Terezi and Gamzee stood there awkwardly as they watched Vriska abandoned them. Terezi was the first to break the silence. "Let's go in!"

"Sure thing, ladies first!" Gamzee opened the little flap and waved his hand for you to go in.

Once they've taken their seats, Gamzee put in a ticket and the game begins. In the front are miniguns attached to the tables. The screen shows the NPC giving the players a mission. However, if the player with more kills gets more coins. 

"I hope you like getting carried by a girl!" Terezi exclaimed while shooting the zombies.

"Nah, it's me who's going to carry you!" He says, getting 7 more coins than Terezi.

There was a zombie that jumped out at Terezi and she screamed while shooting. They cleared the first mission and they waited for the next level to start. The booth became dim as the screen loaded.

"Sorry, for not talkin' to you." Gamzee spoke, as they waited. 

"What?" She turns to him. He's looking at her. 

"You know how I get when I'm high. " He says, running a hand through his hair. The game had already started and they're still looking at each other.

The zombies scream in the background, as Gamzee leans in, pressing his lips on hers. Terezi kisses him back with slowly. They finally pull away when the speakers tell them that they died in the game. 

Gamzee chuckles at her. "Looks like you wanna up and be a clown too."

Terezi touches her face and feels the grease of the clown makeup. Gamzee wipes it off with his hand, making her blush.

They left the booth game and go to find Vriska and Tavros. After several hours of playing games, they went to McDonald's and got some food. 

Terezi and Gamzee hadn't said anything to Vriska or Tavros about their moment in the zombie booth. After Gamzee dropped Vriska and Tavros off, Terezi was the only one left. When Gamzee arrived at her house, Terezi thought about the kiss again. 

"I guess this is me." Terezi says, flashing a smile.

"See ya later, sis." Terezi gets out of the car, closing the door behind her. He drives off as Terezi walks to her house. 

Terezi goes into the bathroom and strips out of her clothes, opens the shower, and gets in. She can't believe what she was expecting! It's Gamzee! He's not as bright as she thought he was. No, how foolish of her to think that he had feelings for anyone other than his Tavbro. She was not sad, nor angry. She was disappointed. though it was not anyone's fault but her own.

She puts on her pajamas and goes to bed. It's best not to think about this now or any time soon.

John finally got home from work and he only has 2 hours to spare before he has to sleep. He usually sleeps around 12. After a nice shower, he turns on his computer and plays an FPS game with 5 other players. He went with playing a medic and aided people when they needed him.

Suddenly a girl voice gets on the mic. She was playing as a paladin. John recognized that voice to be Roxy? She was calling out for once of their attackers.

"Hey, by any chance, you don't happen to be named Roxy, right?" John asks, while healing one of his attackers.

"Who's askin'?" She says, as her character ran over someone.. 

"You sound an awful lot like my friend's sister." John said, stealing someone's kill.

"What's ya friend's name?" She asks.

"Rose." John says. 

"Hey, my sister's name Rose too!" She says, "She's still in high school."

"I think we know the same person!" John said, jokingly as he realized he's playing with Roxy.

"Omg!! Is this John?" She figured it out.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" John asks.

"Well, Dave has a different gamertag, so does Dirk. And Rose doesn't really play video games. SIKE! She totally does." Roxy shielded an enemy from getting the other medic.

"We could always get them to 6-stack with us, if we can get another person to play." John suggested.

"Totally-" 

"Will you both stop flirting and play the game?" One of the people on John and Roxy's team was being salty.

John went off mic to say, "You're just mad you're single. " Then again, so is John. 

After a few hours of playing with Roxy, she told him she has to go to bed because she has an exam tomorrow. John understood that and they said their goodbyes. John shuts down the computer and crawls into the bed. 

Today is the day. The talent show begins in a few hours. Everyone in the show are preparing themselves with their talent. Feferi was stretching her legs and her arms. Gamzee was juggling clubs for practice. And the singers are doing sing tests while the instrument players tune their implements of melodies.

First was Nepeta and her dance, then Equius' "talent". Eridan's science went after. Gamzee made the crowd gasp many times due to him almost falling while juggling five clubs.Vriska made sure that her group went last so that their performance is still fresh in the minds of the audience. John's group was second to last. 

Before John's group went up, there was this girl group that dance and sang like they were in a k-pop. Everyone cheered even though no one understood the Korean they spoke. 

Once that ended, the announcer comes out from behind the red curtains. "And now for the White Wife Beaters!" They introduced, trying to hold in laughter.

The curtains open as John began to play the electric guitar, riffing the fuck out of it, as Dave followed behind along with Jade. No one took John to be a rock type of guy, and here he is singing The Handler, by Muse, with heavy instrumentals.

John reaches the highest notes he can reached and sang his heart out. The crowd cheered as John fiddled with the strings on his guitar. Jade followed John's sounds, creating a nice melody. 

Dirk and Roxy visited the school just to see them play. They're head banging as John hits those chords and shout "woo's" from the back. Rose was in the front taking pictures as Kanaya cheered them on. 

"Holy shit, they're good!" Tavros and the two girls watch from the side of the stage.

"I didn't know John could sing. " Terezi says with a smile. She likes a challenge. 

"Dammit, we should've gone before them!" Vriska complained, biting her nails.

When the song ended, the crowd screams for them, standing up from their seats. The curtain closes while the backstage crew set up everything for the next group. The Wife Beaters left behind stage to join the crowd. Feferi complimented them and Dave's sick drumming skills. The announcer comes out again and compliments the band.

"And now, for the SpiderBitches!" The announcer cringed at the name. "Who came up with these names, jeez." They whispered under their breath.

Vriska, Terezi and Tavros take their positions as the curtain open again. Vriska starts off the guitar riffs of Plug In Baby. Tavros begins to join in and so does Terezi with the bass.

Terezi opens her mouth to sing in her soft raspy voice. She follows Vriska's guitar and Tavros's drums to the chorus

Terezi holds her notes like champ and sings the notes in perfect pitch, but she wasn't afraid to dip low and get deep. 

John watched her from the crowd. He had no idea she was a good singer and that she listens to Muse too. When the song ended, he clapped and whooped for her and the SpiderBitches. The crowd screams and stood up while clapping. The curtains closed, the SpiderBitches put their instruments away backstage and takes their seats with the crowd.

John wanted to compliment Terezi' singing but she was too far away. When the audience settled down, the announcer came up to say that Principal Peregrine has a few words to say about the performance.

"First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who performed in the talent show. While you guys were doing your thing, we raised about $10,100 from parents and other schools." Principal Peregrine said. This time she wore a green suit with a bow tie. "What I didn't tell you guys was that this was live the whole time. I didn't want you guys who were performing to get cold feet." 

The students laughed. Principal Peregrine continued, "On Monday, we will announce the winner of the Talent show. Again, thank you for performing for us." She looks at her wrist watch. "It's 12. You can either go to your class or go home, but you cannot stay wandering the halls." 

Everyone gets up and walks out of the auditorium. Roxy and Dirk found Rose, Dave, Jade and John.

"Omg you guys did so good!" Roxy cheered.

"Good job, kid." Dirk rustles with Dave's blond hair. 

"John, I didn't know you could sing! I was shocked!" Roxy exclaimed in excitement, nearly jumping in her place. 

A few other people that walked by John complimented his singing and the group's skills. They were near the exit, when John spots Terezi with Sollux and Nepeta. They seem to be conversing amongst themselves about the show just now. He saw how much she was smiling and laughing with them. He figured he's catch up with her later.


	2. Pep Rally?!

Just a few days after the Talent show, the school announced that the Vriska's group won as the new representative of the school. Terezi wasn't interested in things like that, neither was Tavros. Vriska took the chance to be the one to lead the school. However, not many were susceptible to this change. Many people, in fact, the ones who hated Vriska Serket sought to remove her from the school. With luck on her side, she managed to convince the Principal that she did nothing wrong. She might've pants a couple of students, mostly freshmen and some juniors. She also might've vandalized someone's locker, it was Aradia's. And she framed someone once for bringing weed to school, but Vriska was the one who put the devil's lechuga there. Because of these conspiracy, Principal Peregrine, chose someone else with no conspiracy. So, she chose Feferi Peixes. She's the little sister of the former leader, Meenah Peixes.

And thus Vriska spend the whole day in her room because she felt betrayed. She didn't feel good enough. The world was against her, and someone needs to pay. 

Terezi skipped school to check on her best friend. She cracks open Vriska's bedroom door and peaks her head inside. "Hey, Vriska?" She calls.

Vriska's sitting on her bed, sharpening one of her knives from her knife collection. "Hey." She greets, coldly.

"What are you doing?" Terezi slowly walks over to Vriska's side and sits next to her. She sees the knife in Vriska's hand.

"Plotting." Vriska answers. 

"You're not planning to kill Feferi, right?" Terezi joked, a bit of seriousness in her words. 

"Why would you think that?" Vriska asked with aggression in her voice.

"Well, since you got replaced by Feferi I figured you'd be mad about it?" Terezi shrugged. "And I know how you get when you're mad."

"I'm not mad." Vriska folds her switch blade and quickly puts it in her pocket. "I'm… so happy that she's in charge now. Relieved, even!"

"Feferi isn't technically in charge, y'know?" Terezi mentions, while playing with Vriska's hair.

"It's not that. It was SO humiliating!" Vriska raised her voice, causing Terezi to flinch. "I'm sorry. They didn't need to do that. And little fishy princess told everyone!" 

"I'm sure she didn't mean to." 

"Yes, she did! The girl can't keep her mouth shut for a second!" Vriska stood up and marched out of her room.

"Vriska, where are you going?" Terezi stood up, watching Vriska march into the hall.

"For a walk!" She runs down the stairs and rushed out the door, slamming it behind her. 

Vriska can't believe her past actions would get to her like that! They were just harmless pranks, of course. Nothing ever goes her way. She's more than angry, she's… going to have a breakdown. 

Calm down, Vriska, she tells herself. But she can't calm down. Her heart is beating a mile a minute. None of this is her! Get help they said, but there's nothing wrong! Her therapist tells her that she's not good enough for this world. Well, maybe the world isn't good enough for her! How long can she play pretend? Pretend that she isn't a monster? Her "childish" pranks were more than just silly, they were dangerous. But for some sick reason, she enjoys them. 

"Why don't you try to be nicer to your friends." Her therapist tells her, demanding her rather than suggesting. 

She tried and it only makes things worse. She's a hunter among the hunted. Vriska has to be strong because no one's going to be strong for her. Everyone else is living in their own delusional world, faking just to get by. She isn't fake. No one is good by design, she believes. She taught herself to believe that. And the fact that she has to hide and pretend! Vriska punches a brick wall, breaking her skin as blood gushes out. The anger consumes her to the point where the pain is unflinching. Ever since she was taken into foster care because of her abusive mother and adopted by her negligent adoptive mother, she has made a revelation. That is no one is allowed to fuck with her. 

It was because of her that they treated her the way they did. They were so impressionable that Vriska couldn't stand it! She drove them to madness and they took it out on her. They were weak and they took it out on their daughter. It is because of her that they deserve to be miserable, waking up and regretting the life they live. Death was the escape, and she wanted to make them suffer. There was no way out. Every night she whispered her mother's ear that dying is a way out but she doesn't deserve that luxury. Vriska did the same years later with her adoptive mother, and drove her away. Vriska didn't need weakness in her presence.

She sits on the swing in a nearby park. As she aids her hand, she wonders how she managed to have a weak minded boyfriend. She doesn't realize that she likes him more than she bargained for. After all, she is the one who comes back to him. And Terezi, not easily manipulated Terezi, she's something. She was able to see through Vriska. She doesn't like to admit it, but Terezi saved her when she thought it was the other way around. 

A few days passed and Terezi's worried about Vriska. She hasn't been home for quite some time. Everytime Terezi visits, she's always met with the same silence and items still in the same place. 

Terezi texted everyone she knew about Vriska's whereabouts, but unfortunately not everyone was friendly with Vriska enough to know where she would go. Even Tavros didn't know where she went! Desperate, Terezi turned to one person who would help her find Vriska without involving the cops.

Terezi waited in front of the Local Convenience Store. She bought herself some pixie sticks, the cherry flavored kind. She looked at the sky. The sun is setting fast this time around. Terezi perked up when she saw the familiar face. 

"What is up, my sister?" Gamzee waved, high as a motherfucker. He's wearing his purple sweatshirt that seems to be a bit tight around his arms, outlining the shape of his muscles.

"Gamzee! Thanks for showing up." Terezi says, going over to him. 

They went to search at the park that they usually hang out in. "Vriska!" Terezi called as the sun was coming down.

They searched for hours in different locations into the late night. "Maybe she died. " Gamzee said as a joke, when they entered the woods.

"Shut up! She's not dead!" Terezi called out to Vriska again and receives no response. "Dammit!" She leaned on the tree. The only source of light now is the lamp post above them, glimmering an orange color.

"Why are you so attached to that sis?" Gamzee ask, voice low and raspy sending shivers down Terezi's back. He looked down at her small figure.

"I need her, just like she needs me!" She's on the verge of tears. 

He pats her head and strokes her hair in a comforting manner. "Don't cry, it ruins the make up."

"I'm not crying." Her voice cracks, exposing her.

"What if she didn't need you as much as you thought she did?" Gamzee asked. Right after Terezi slaps him across the face without a second thought to process what he just said to her. He grabs her wrist, causing her to flinch in pain. "Face it, Terezi, that bitch doesn't care about you or anyone. Anyone with eyes can see it." He grumbles, letting go of her hand. 

She rubs on her wrist. "And what about you? Saying shit about caring for someone. You don't even care about me. You don't talk to me or look at me." Anger is embedded into her eyes. She's had enough of his bullshit, of everything. "The only person you care about is Tavros, which is why you hate Vriska so much!" 

"Bite your tongue, wicked sister! You only speak of blasphemy!" Ganzee yells back.

"I've seen the way you look at him." Terezi tells him, going up to his face. "You're jealous that Tavros chose Vriska over you." 

Terezi expected him to argue back, but he backs down. The furrows in his eyebrows lifts as she sees a hint of sadness through the glare of the lamp post in his eyes. He simply says, "we should head back." 

Gamzee leads the way. And Terezi follows behind him. She shouldn't have said that. The truth always hurts the most. 

"You can stay at my place since it's the closest." He says, not looking back at you. "It's too late out to be wandering the neighborhood."

Terezi looks at the time on her phone. It reads, 1:15am. Has she been out that long?

Once they get close to Gamzee's house, Terezi realized she's never been to Gamzee's house before. It's big and at the end of the street. They walk in and go upstairs into his room. Gamzee tells her to make herself at home as he leaves the room. 

She sits on the couch that's across the TV. His bed is behind her and it's neat and kept nicely, unlike hers. He has clown posters on the walls, his unicycle sits snuggly beside his dresser in between the wall. The window has spotted curtains, so does his bedsheets. Gamzee comes back into the room with a shirt and shorts.

"Here." He holds it out to her. "Can't get a good snooze on without a nice pair of pajamas." 

Terezi opens her mouth to say snarky remark, but she just accepts the pajamas and thanks him. He leaves the room while she changes. Terezi didn't know what to expect. She never knew Gamzee this personally. She thought he was a messy guy who likes to get high all the time. He's quite the gentleman.

As soon as she's done changing clothes, she folds her own clothing neatly next to her. When Gamzee enters the room, she doesn't look up at him. She feels guilty for making him feel sad. She wants to apologize, but she doesn't know how to start.

"When you said I hated the spider, you were right, but not just for that reason." Gamzee sits next to her and she keeps her eyes on her hands. He takes her hand and presses it to his cheek. "She did this to me." 

Terezi realized his face isn't oily with makeup, she turns to him. There's three huge gash diagonally across his face. Terezi didn't say anything. How can she? She didn't know what to believe. Sure, Vriska was a bit aggressive sometimes, but she would never actually hurt someone. Or maybe she was wrong. 

"This is what happens when you try to get involved with her." Gamzee says 

"Wait, you dated Vriska?" 

"Nah, I saw her beatin' some chic and I stood in and helped a motherfucker out." He explained. "The spider bitch broke a glass bottle and cut me hard across the face, then ran.”

Terezi didn't know what to say. Why would she just beat up a random girl? It must be for a reason, right? All this time, Gamzee was trying to get Tavros away from Vriska emotionally because he knew she was dangerous. Terezi feels like an ass now. He was just protecting his best bro. "I'm sorry… about what I said earlier."

"Don't be. There was some truth in that." Gamzee says, pulling Terezi up from his couch and setting her on his bed.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

"Can't be having a guest sleep on the couch." Gamzee shrugs, going to his closet and pulling a blanket from the top shelf.

"Wait, so I was right. You have feelings for Tavros!" Terezi says in a matter of fact. 

"Yeah," He sighs, getting the blanket on his couch. 

If this was true, then why did he kissed her? Why lead her on? "Then, why did you kiss me?"

"It looked like you needed it." He says. 

That night Terezi had trouble sleeping. Aside from the fact that she's not in her own bed, but she realized she meant nothing to the guy she liked. He was merely doing her a favor. She didn't understand her relationship with the clown. Maybe he doesn't either. Regardless, Terezi eventually fell asleep with the scent of her clown crush in her nose. 

When the morning came, Gamzee was already out of bed making breakfast. He goes to check on Terezi who's face down, arm hanging off the bed. He gives her a good shake to wake her up and she slowly rises out of bed. Her face is covered by her hair, which Gamzee thought was adorable. 

Eventually she came down for breakfast and sat down on the tall stool where the counter was. Gamzee had the stereotype typical wife apron on. 

"You know," Terezi started, "I never expected this from the juggalo pothead."

He chuckles. "Being a juggalo and a pothead are part time jobs for me." He sets the plates on the table, making eye contact with her. "The rest of the day, I'm Gamzee Makara."

"Why can't you be Gamzee Makara all the time?" Terezi asks, playing along with Gamzee's antics.

"Not everyone likes Gamzee Makara. He's… not a people person." He says. 

"I get that." Terezi winked.

Terezi finished her plate of breakfast and puts her dishes in the sink. Gamzee does the same afterwards. "It's nice having company." He says. "My old man barely has time to be home."

Terezi nods. "I know how you feel."

"Yeah?" Gamzee turns to her.

"My mom is almost never home, but she always leaves something for me to know she's there." Gamzee leans in, pushing a finger under Terezi's chin and kisses her. She quickly pulls away, wiping her lips. "What the hell, Gamzee? I didn't need that!" 

He smiles. "I know." He says. "I needed it."

And he goes to his room, leaving Terezi blushing by herself. 

Gamzee drove Terezi to school today. She asks if he was going to come into school, he says no. As she was opening the door to leave, he grabs her wrist, making her turn towards him. “You did good at the talent show.” He says, making her smile. 

This Makara is so confusing to her. “Thanks, you too.” He let her go. She gets out and watches him drive off. 

Kanaya was the first to greet Terezi at the door to the school. “Terezi!” She called, waving her arm.

“Hey, Kanaya.” Terezi walks towards her. 

“Did you hear? A girl was found dead yesterday at by the Spring pond.” She opens the door for Terezi, and Kanaya follows behind. “You don’t think it’s Vriska, do you? You did ask of her whereabouts yesterday.”

Disturbing thoughts fill Terezi’s mind of Vriska’s corpse somewhere. “She’s not dead. Whoever that is, isn’t Vriska.” She tried to attempt to make herself feel better. Her mind drifts to what Gamzee said, her being dead. He wouldn’t kill her, would he?

“They haven’t revealed the person yet.” Kanaya assures her. “Has Vriska ever gotten back to you?”

Terezi took her head. Kanaya looks at her with sympathy. Kanaya is one of the few people who actually care about Vriska. She was once involved with Vriska at some point, but when sophomore year came around they grew apart. Vriska became more isolated and hung out with fewer people. Kanaya began taking an interest in Rose and they became friends. Though, Kanaya hasn’t told Rose that she wants to be more yet, for fear that it might ruin their friendship.

They both go to their homeroom. Luckily, they share a homeroom. Kanaya couldn’t help but feel pity for Terezi, she knew that Terezi has an attachment to the blue spider. Once upon a time, even Kanaya had an attachment to her. It was something about Vriska that made her undeniable. 

Throughout the day, Terezi had accompanied Kanaya, following her like a chick following its mother. During lunch, Kanaya was sitting with Rose and Kanaya, along with John and Dave. Jade was absent today because she had to take care of her grandfather. John hadn’t spoken to Terezi in a while, it almost felt weird. He didn’t know she was close with Kanaya either, or that Kanaya was friends with Vriska.

Kanaya made sure to keep Vriska’s whereabouts a secret because Terezi didn’t want to risk anyone calling the police. If they did, then Vriska’s mom would be notified and she’ll come running home. Terezi knows for sure that her mother is bad news for Vriska, but she doesn’t know that it’s the other way around.

Terezi excuses herself from the table and goes to the bathroom. John watches as she leaves the table. He tells everyone that he’s going to use the restroom as well, and follows her out.

“Terezi,” John called, catching up to her. “Hey.”

She stands in her tracks. The hallway is quiet and empty with a faint noise of chatter coming from the cafeteria. Terezi turns around. “Hey.” She forces a smile.

“What’s up? We haven’t spoken in a while.” John says.

She shrugs, unable to formulate comprehendable words. There was so much going on with Vriska and it’s been keeping her mind busy. She sighs. “I’m sorry.” She hangs her head, looking at her shoes, sounding defeated.

“Are you okay?” He reached out to her, but she moves away.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” He says. “Is it because of Vriska?”

“Who told you?” Terezi glares at him. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” He raises his hands in defense. “You seemed bummed out lately and I heard Kanaya mention something about Vriska to Rose, so I thought…”

“It has nothing to do with you, so just leave me alone.” She turns on her heel and walks away.

“Okay, I guess I’ll… talk to you later.” He says, watching her storm off.

What’s with her, he thought. He wondered if Terezi and Vriska got into a fight or something. She must be really upset about it if she refuses to eat lunch. Should he really let her go like that? It’s not like she’s his responsibility. John scratches his head. Just as he was turning to go back into the cafe, he changes direction and followed where he thinks Terezi would be.

The bell has rung already and John can’t seem to find Terezi anywhere. The fourth lunch has started and everyone was filling up the hallway quickly. Karkat bumps into him, cursing at him.

“Karkat!” John exclaimed. “Have you seen Terezi? She’s around here somewhere.”

“As if I would know where she is. I just got out of class.” Karkat says.

John pats him on the shoulder. “Thanks, lemme know if you see her any time soon.” He totally ignored what Karkat said. Karkat rolled his eyes and walked to the cafeteria.

The corridor became quiet again. John’s calculus class had already started by now. He’s going to be in trouble. Just as he was planning to leave, he hears a faint sobbing. It was up those stairs, but there’s a metal fence door blocking the entrance. No one was supposed to go there.

“Pst!” John called. “Terezi?”

He was met with silence. He sighs. He can’t believe what he’s about to do. He hoisted himself up on the fence and lifted a leg over it. With grace, he rolls over and falls on his face. John is going to get in so much trouble. Pulling himself up, he turns the corner and sees Terezi sitting on the step with her head buried in her arms and her knees pulled up. John can hear the faint music coming from her ear buds. 

He goes to sit next to her. She flinches as she opened her mouth to scream, John quickly covers her mouth and puts a finger to his lips. They hear teachers walking by, talking about tests. As soon as the footsteps fade into the distance, John pulls his hand back. 

"What the fuck does 'leave me alone' do you not understand?" Terezi quickly wipes away her tears with the back of her hand. 

"I want to know what's going on with you. Why'd you come to school anyway if you're just gonna ditch your classes?" He asks, relaxing his shoulders. 

"Here's a better question, why are you invested in my life?" She snapped.

"Probably because, whether you like it or not, I'm your friend. " 

"Friends don't ruin each other's shirts!"

"Oh yeah? Friends don't make you upset either, and it looks like Vriska's doing a GREAT job at that!" He yelled, sarcastically.

Terezi looks away from John. That isn't true! Everyone is lying, from Terezi point of view.

"Ugh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." John rubbed his temples with his thumb and his index finger. 

"You're angry with me." Terezi speaks, quietly.

"Well, yeah! It's because… I care?" He doesn't quite understand his own feelings and intentions sometimes.

"When Vriska gets mad at me, it's because I did something wrong." Terezi says, with a small smile as if she's reminiscing a good memory. 

"That sounds pretty bad. You can't keep revolving yourself around Vriska." John says, almost annoyed.

"I'm not."

"Really? Because it looks like you only do things when she does them. You follow her around like you have nowhere else to go and you don't seem to enjoy it." John points a finger at her. "Not to mention how she treats you and Tavros."

"It's because I'm her best friend."

"You're her pet. And you can't convince me otherwise." He crossed his arms, determining a fixed opinion.

"You don't get it! You don't know her like I do." 

"Well, I'm not convinced that she's actually good like you perceive her to be." 

"Well, you don't know her." She argued.

"I don't know her, but I know she's the one that made you upset." He puts a hand on her shoulder and this time she doesn't push him away. "Do you want to talk about it?" 

"I'm not sure." Terezi rubs her chin in thought. 

"It's cool if you don't wanna talk about it." 

"Thanks." She puts on a smile. "I didn't take you for a person of truancy." She chuckles.

"Haha, yeah." He runs and hand through his hair. "I never understood it when people would skip school."

"It's a way to avoid responsibilities and listening to middle aged men and women preach about learnings of learnings is kinda boring." She moves her hands a lot when she talks, and John notices.

"Isn't doing nothing kinda boring too?" He asks.

"Not when you're with the right people." She winked an eye at him.

He looks away putting his thoughts into a comprehensive sentence without sounding stupid. John looks at her when he's gathered enough confidence to say what he means. "Am I the right people?" 

Before she opens her mouth to answer, the intercom makes a loud ding sound followed by Principal Peregrine speaking. "John Egbert to the principal's office." It echoes.

Terezi covers her mouth, smiling big. "The goodie two shoes Egbert baby is in twouble." She says in a sing-song voice.

John shoved her shoulder gently and smiles. "It's probably something important, like a scholarship or something."

"Or something is my best bet." Terezi watched him stand up and stretch his legs. 

"Whatever." He says, going over to the fence. "See you later, Terezi." He waved, jumping up to grab the top of the fence. 

"Later, idiot." She says. "Don't rip your pants on the way out!"

When John got onto the other side of the fence, he made his way to the Principal's office. Her secretary, Windswept Questant, sees John walking in through the door. 

She has a phone to her ear, talking to an angry parent on the phone. She holds to phone to her chest, covering the caller from hearing her. "Just go right in, sweetheart." She says. 

John walks passed her desk and opens the door to Principal Peregrine's office. She's on her computer and when John steps in she focuses her attention to John. She smiles. 

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" He jokes, being somewhat serious.

"No." She shook her head. "Please, have a seat."

"So, what's up?" John asked, a bit fidgety in his chair. 

"The pep rally is coming up and I would like to have you perform for it." Principal Peregrine says. "I recognize your talent and this would be the perfect opportunity to get you out there."

"But I'm not in the choir." John says. 

"Would you like to be? I could rearrange for that to happen." She sounds pretty suggestive on this. 

"I'll talk to my friends about it since we were all in this together." John explains.

"That's the thing, Mr. Egbert." She leans towards her desk, folding her hands. "We only want you."

"What?" John thought about his friends. How could he play alone? It was selfish of him to just accept the offer without consulting his friends.

"You've shown exceptional performance during the talent show." She complimented. "The reason why I didn't choose you as our winner was because you were just too good. Such and outstanding performance that I preferred you to play at our pep rally." 

"I don't know what to say." This was his recognition, a chance to be someone. But he can't just leave his friends behind.After a long silence of indecision, John finally speaks. "I won't do it, not without my friends."

Principal Peregrine nods her head slightly, as if she understands. "Very well. You see, I would have Ms. Pyrope and her crew, but the spider is acquainted." 

"Vriska?" 

"She's unfit to lead this school." Principal Peregrine says with elegant belligerence. "I did what I had to."

"What do you-" Then it hits him. It wasn't because people didn't like Vriska that she lost her title. It was the principal's preference. "You're the one that didn't want Vriska to lead the school." 

"And you agree."

"It's unfair. You abused your power to change the results in your favor."

"It isn't abuse when it's for someone other than myself." She adjusted in her seat. "Since you've declined me, we have no business talking You can go.." 

John gets up without saving a word. He doesn't look back when he leaves her office. John looked at the time and it's already the end of the day. As John went into the hallway, he sees students already leaving the building. 

Later in the day, Terezi walks home alone this time. Vriska was nowhere to be found, Tavros skipped school too, probably worried about Vriska. She wonders where she might be. Vriska would leaves sometimes, but she’s never gone longer than a day. She begins to consider what Gamzee said about Vriska. Does she really not care?

As Terezi walked with her earbuds tucked in her ears and listening to The Wombats on her phone, John catches up to her. He puts a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump in defense.

"Calm down, it's just me." He raises a hand to see that he’s harmless.

"Jeez, John!" She smacks him on the arm. "You gotta stop startling me!" She pulls her earbuds out and shove them into her pant pockets.

"Sorry, Terezi. I didn't mean to." They both continue to walk 

"So, why did you decide to walk?" She asks, keeping her eyes forward.

"What do you mean?"

"You have a car and yet you've decided to walk." Terezi states the facts. "Could it be possible that you, John Egbert, have a crush on me?" 

It takes a while for John to process such simple words coming from Terezi. Once it hits, he blushes, almost guilty of this accusation. "N-no!" He stammers, causing Terezi to smile bigger. He has to derail this conversation quickly. "If anything, you'd be the last person I'd hook up with!" This isn't derailing!

"Oh, yeah?" She raised an eyebrow, almost to challenge the Egbert. "So, you're telling me that if I was the last person on earth with you, you want to wouldn't repopulate?"

He can't believe what he's hearing! Balls of sweat forms on his forehead while images of marriage occupies his brain. Marriage with Terezi? It seems highly unlikely, but not impossible. But why would she ask to "repopulate" if she wasn't at least slightly interested in him? "It seems like you would be interested in...that activity." 

Fuck, it just got awkward. John smacks himself on the forehead. Such a profound facepalm. However, instead of walking away and completely ignoring him forever, thinking he's a complete imbecile, Terezi laughs. He isn't sure if it's at his comment or himself. "Is that how your flirt with girls?" She wipes a tear from her cheek.

That was far from flirting! But he thinks back if what he was doing was flirting. "It's not like you're any better!" He attempts to defend himself and save even a silver of his dignity back. 

Terezi thought about the last time she actually flirted with someone. There was the time at the party, but it was kinda forced. She only agreed because Vriska went. Oh man, she begins to think John was right about her being Vriska's pet and following her around. 

Speaking of Vriska, she still fails to respond to Terezi's messages. She figured her phone died or something after being gone for almost 4 days. The feeling still creeps on her, and the thought that Vriska might actually be dead, isn't helping with the anxiety she feels for her friend. The thought of Vriska's funeral looms over her. Terezi can't help but think that there would only be her at Vriska's funeral. Her tombstone reads "Here Lies the Craziest Bitch Fucking RIP". The tomb would be covered with Magic 8-balls and black spiders, topples with Forget-Me-Nots. Terezi will be wearing a black dress meant for funerals, with a bottle of the finest depressants called Vodka. Slowly, she'd poison herself on Vriska's grave, just to spite her for dying without her. And in the end, Terezi would still blame it all on Vriska, even in hell. But these are all just a fantasy for the biggest fuck you in history. 

She hadn't realized John was asking her a question. He shakes her shoulder, snapping her out of it. "Are you okay?" 

She nods. "I'm fine." She tries to bury her thoughts of death. 

"You sure? You kinda zoned out there." He shrugs.

She looks around and realizes she's in her neighborhood. She looks at the closed lights of her home in the dim day. Terezi didn't want to be home alone again. She turns to John. "Hey," eyes averted with demure. "would you like to come to my house?"

John did not know how to answer. He's never been over to a girl's house alone. Usually Dave or Jade is with him. 

Before he can respond with an answer, Terezi interrupts him. "You could at least be polite and say yes." 

John peeked down at her, noticing her timorous demeanor, with a hint of pink on her cheeks. "Uh, sure. I guess." He says. 

He follows her inside her house. Damn her mien! It only caused John to be more apprehensive about this. Her house is just as big as his, but with more color once she switch on the lights. Just when they walk to the living room, they both find Gamzee napping on TZ's couch with a beer bottle in hand.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She curses to herself. Terezi goes over to him and pinches him awake. 

No response. He honks softly in his sleep.

"John, could you help me get him upstairs?" She pulls an arm around her shoulders while John takes the other arm.

They drag his heavy, 6'5 body, up the stairs to Terezi's room. Before they set him down, Gamzee turned to John and puked on his shirt. "Eugh, gross!" They laid him on his side on Terezi’s bed. 

“Hahaha! You like that, puke boy!” Terezi grabbed a towel and threw it at John. 

“The smell…” He gags. “I’m gonna be sick.”

“Hold on, lemme find you a shirt.” She looks through her closet. “Meanwhile, you should shower. I don’t want vomit smell all over my house.” 

Terezi takes out another towel, one that isn’t covered in vomit. “Thanks.” He takes it from her. “Where’s the-”

“It’s across the room.” She throws her clothes out of her way to find a shirt that would fit John. 

“Thank you.” He leaves her room for the bathroom. It’s fairly large in the bathroom. There’s a jacuzzi bath and it’s separate from the shower. John doesn’t even have this in his own home. He chose to take the shower instead of the bath. When John stripped out of his gross clothing with the stench of Gamzee’s meal, he slipped into the shower. While cleaning himself, he noticed there were ten shampoo bottles. “Fuck, which one do I use?” 

He grabs them, reading the labels. “Conditioner?” He says to himself. He didn’t know Terezi was so rich to afford ten shampoo bottles, and whatever that ‘conditioner’ was. He only had one bottle of shampoo. Conflicted by which one he should use, John used all ten of the shampoos. 

Once he got out of the shower, Terezi opens the door. “Aaahhh!! Terezi, what the fuck!!” He holds the towel to hip, fearing it might fall if he doesn’t.

“Relax, Egbert. It’s just me.” Terezi says, casually while putting his change of clothes on the sink counter. She stares him up and down. His wet, somewhat lean body makes her nearly drool. She didn’t know he had muscles under his shirt. Then again, who would’ve guessed? It’s John fucking Egbert. 

“Terezi?” He calls her, snapping her out of it. “Were you… checking me out?”

“What- no. This isn't… a grocery store.” 

“Haha, very funny. Can you get out now?” He walks over to the door and gently pushes her out.

“Hey, “ She says as she’s standing in the doorway. “I have something to say.”

John waits for her to say it.

She looks up at him, cheeks slightly flushed and a massive grin revealing her sharp teeth. “Nice.” Terezi gives him a thumbs up. John slams the door in her face. He covers his face with his hands as he’s filled with discomfiture. He couldn’t believe she just walked in on him so casually.

She chuckles to herself while going to her room to check up on Gamzee. Moments later, John shows up next to her. “Man, he’s really out.”

“Yeah… You hungry?” Terezi asks,while leaving her room to go down stairs. And John follows right behind her.

They go to the kitchen and Terezi makes a sandwich for both her and John. They eat in silence, not sure what to say. Terezi had just been caught ogling at John’s suspiciously hot bod. John’s unsure what to think of it. Sure, he’s flattered, but no one’s ever thought he was attractive. Well, no one he knows.

“Thanks for staying with me.” She breaks the silence. “You can keep the clothes and return them later.”

“What do you... oh.” He realized what she meant. “I’m not leaving you here with that guy.”

“Gamzee’s harmless.”

“He showed up to your house drunk.” He says. “How did he even get in?”

“That’s… a very good question.” Terezi gets up and goes to the back door. It’s unlocked. “He lock picked my house!”

“Yeah, see? I’m not leaving.” He crossed his arms. “And you invited me here, so…”

“Yes, I get it, John.” Terezi closes her door, locking it. “You can stay for the night.”

“Cool,” He watches her go back to her seat. “You know, I’ve never been to a girl’s house before.”

“I wonder why.” Terezi rolls her eyes. She picks up her cup of ice water and takes a sip.

“So, what do girls do at sleepovers?” John asked, with a sheepish smile.

“Oh, you know, have pillow fights and strip each other.” She says, sarcastically.

“R-really?” He asks, blushing and being completely oblivious to her sarcasm. 

“Ha! You wish, pervert!” She leans over the table, her face just inches away from John. She has bedroom eyes. “Unless, that’s what you want.”

She was so close he could smell her hair. Perhaps he’s smelling it off of himself. He puts a hand on her face and pushes her away. “You can’t trick me with one of your antics.”

Terezi grabs John’s hand with both of her hands and moved them to the side so she could see him. He didn’t realize how small her hands are compared to his. “What if it’s not a trick?” She places his hand on her chest. “What if I actually like you?”

John’s face grew hot as he began to sweat profusely. Did Terezi just confess her feelings for him? This could be one of her pranks, but she looks so convincing. She’s looking at him with her big teal anime eyes and her face is slightly pink. Wait, does he like her back? She pretty cool as friend. He hasn’t thought of her as a girlfriend, until now. 

He pictured going to the movies with her and watching his favorite movies together. Maybe go ice skating and they’ll do the cliche girl falling on top of the guy and they smooch. Or go to an arcade together and he’ll win her a pushie. But what if dad doesn’t approve of Terezi? What if he thinks she’s bad to be around and they have to sneak around just to hang out. Then dad finds out and he kicks him out of the house, so now John’s forced to live on the streets and Terezi’s pregnant with their child. So, now John has to get a job to fend for his-

“John?” Terezi called, making him snap his attention to her.

“Uh, yeah?” He pretends he wasn’t just daydreaming about their made-up relationship.

“It was just a joke.” She says. 

“Oh.” He feels stupid. “Yeah, I knew that.”

She gets up and takes both your plates to the sinks. John can't believe what he was thinking. He sounds like a freak. He's more than just a single man. 

"Hey," Terezi catches John's attention, "You wanna see my pets?" 

Right. Terezi has pets. John remembers because he was stalking her. He gives himself a mental punch to the face for being such a creep sometimes. "Sure." He says.

They go upstairs and enter the room on the right instead of the left, where her room his. Terezi opens the door, and it looks just like in her video. Though, the room was dark when they first entered. All the enclosures has their own little light. 

"Welcome to Redglare's room." She switched on the light. Redglare, the alligator's room wasn't the whole room, like John had initially thought, it was half of the room. Terezi stuck her arm out towards Redglare's enclosure. "This is Redglare."

Redglare crawls into her kiddie pool and stares at the intruder, which is John. "You have an actual alligator," Was all he could say. 

"Yeah." She turns around, towards the other reptilian home. She reaches in and takes out a bearded dragon. "This is, " she says, turning towards John. "Pyralspite."

The reptile sticks its tongue at John. "Aw, what a cutie." 

"She's probably pretty tired." Terezi puts the bearded dragon into her home. She closes the top of the enclosure and goes to the gecko's home. "Aw, Lemonsnout is sleeping."

John leans in and takes a look. Its eyes are closed and its smiling. He finds it very adorable. 

Terezi sticks her hand in a fish tank, which John hadn't noticed before because it was laying on the floor, unlike the other homes, which were on shelves. "This is my newest pet. He's kinda big and I still can't tell if it's a boy or a girl, but I think it might be a boy." She pulls out the snapping turtle, which is about the size of a football. "This is Mr. President. He likes democracy."

"He likes democracy?"

"Yup." She goes to put Mr. President back in his home. He swims to the bottom back to his rock. 

For a moment, John felt the need to hold her. Perhaps it's instinctive animal nature to devour, but this felt different. Surely. John was not an animal and he did not carry these instincts. Perhaps he likes her. He's liked many women but they were usually ones who did not acknowledge his existence, which was fine. It was something he's used to. He's accepted that he'll never be with anyone, that is until Terezi first spoke to him. Then again, she might also just see him as a friend. Perhaps it's better if it stayed that way. 

"Let's go to bed." She leaves the room and closes the lights. She bids all her reptiles a goodnight. Terezi brings John to the guest room, which was formerly her sister's room. She won't be needing it any time soon. "This is your room."

"Where would you be sleeping?" John asks before she leaves. 

"My mom's room. It's the room at the end of the hall." She points down the hall. "If you need me, I'll be there." 

With that, she bids John a goodnight and closes the door. He lays in bed, pulling the covers over his body. Why did he offer to stay here? And why is she sleeping in her mom’s room? John turned to his side and thought it was best not to think about it. She was already weird as she is.

Terezi checks on Gamzee to see him still laying in the same position. His shoulders rise and fall slowly. Good. He's still alive. She leaves his door cracked open and goes off to her mom's room. 

It's dark and cold. Terezi looks at the picture of her, her mother, and Latula. She was about 10 in the picture and Latula was 12. Mom didn't look as stressed out. In fact, she looks happy. Now, she's out there bringing criminals to justice. Now, she has no time for kids.

Terezi lulls herself to sleep. Eventually she began to dream of… John? He’s walking towards her with his shirt off. She wants to tell him to stay right where he is, but he doesn’t stop until he’s right in front of her, just inches away from her. He pushes her and Terezi lands on a bed. John throws his glasses off to the side and continues to crawl towards Terezi. This must be a dream, she thinks.

His eyes were so alluring when he stares at her like a fat man stares at a snack. She doesn’t stop him from kissing her. In fact, she reciprocates. John trails kisses along her jawline down to her neck. A noise of pleasure escapes her lips, then she lets her hands guide the way on John’s chest. 

As Terezi dreams of her sexual escapade with John. Gamzee creeps into the room and stands by the door like a creepy shadowy figure. Terezi tosses and turns in her sleep, mewling in pleasure. Then she wakes herself up by being a bit too loud. 

Terezi quickly notices the figure in her room. She jumps, screaming, “oh my god, what the fuck?” At Gamzee standing in the dark like a demon or something. 

“Calm the motherfuck down, sis.” He says, walking towards her.

“No, just stay there.” She points at him and he stops. 

“Seems like you had a heated dream just now.” He smiles, mocking her. 

“You wanna get punched, asshole?” Terezi threatened. “Were you watching me this whole time?”

“No, motherfucker. I was just about to wake you until you just sat up and started screaming and shit.” He says.

“Why are you in here anyways? Do you need something?” She asks, 

“Don’t you wanna know why I all up and came to your place?” Gamzee says, crossing his arms.

“You can tell me when the sun comes up.” She says, laying back down and pulling the blanket over her body again.

“It’s about your little insect, wicked sister.” He says, deep and low.

She sits up again. “Wait,” she processed her thoughts, “You broke into my house because of Vriska?”

“Nah, sis. Not because of her, it’s because of what I found out. And that’s part of the reason.” He says, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Turns out, your web spinning bestie gotten herself into a lot of trouble. She came to Tavros yesterday, covered in the blood of the girl murdered that morning in Spring Pond.”

“What?” She says in disbelief. “Vriska wouldn’t do that. And if anything, she would come to me.”

“Then why didn’t she?” Gamzee sits on the edge of Terezi’s bed. 

“What’s the other reason you came here, other than to convince me to drop Vriska?” Terezi avoided eye contact with him.

Gamzee took a hard swallow as if he’s embarrassed about what he has to say, or guilty. “After I tried to comfort my Tavbro, he turned on me, saying I planned this shit. Then he kicked me out.”

“That’s not hard to believe.” She scoffed. 

“You don’t trust me?”

“It’s kinda hard to listen to a clown who’s scared of spiders.” She says.

“I ain’t scared of spiders. And I ain’t the clown. He’s passed out.” He tells her. “But if you wanna investigate the place, meet me at the Spring Pond at 8 today.”

He gets up and leaves the room. Terezi sighs. 

How long has it been since Vriska stormed off to who knows where? After Vriska got her hands dirty with that chic, she figured she had to go into hiding. But where exactly? She couldn't go home, Terezi would be there and interrogate her. But she needs to be at a place where it's the least suspected place to look. If anyone was going to go down with her, it was Tavros.

He gladly welcomed her into his home when she came knocking. At first, he thought she was acting when she told him that she had killed someone. He couldn't help but comfort her and help her "hide". Though, it wasn't the mere fact of killing a person that scared Vriska, it was what comes after if anyone found out. How far was she willing to go just to save her own ass? She doesn't know.

As she lays in the guest room, Vriska stared up at the ceiling. The image of her face still haunts her. Not even Vriska can explain what happened that evening. It was like she blacked out and when she opened her eyes, blood was on her hands and the woman was floating in the water. She didn’t have time to think about what she did, she just ran and never stopped for fear that someone might see her face.

Today was the day of the pep rally. John received several messages from his friends about it and to wear the school colors. But before that, Terezi had told him about the Vriska situation. She had him promise not to tell anyone about it, even the authorities.

Terezi skipped out on school to prepare herself for today. She brought her dandy dragon knife just in case this was a trap or if someone else was there. She wore black jeans and a standard black shirt with a black hoodie. Her attire screams suspicious. She thinks it's convenient for the dark, so she could blend in better. She's not used to wearing such bitter licorice. Terezi expects this from Aradia, maybe Rose, but even she has to put a little color into it. 

John had decided to accompany Terezi on her investigation. He simply does not trust the clown and his intent. He senses something more sinister in the juggalo, and he fears Terezi might be blind to it. He refrained from telling any of his friends where he's going. He can't have them be involved in this. They're too young to be criminals! John was the oldest of his group, being 19 and all isn't as great as our seems. It's almost embarrassing for him, since he's still in high school. 

Once it was 7, Terezi went with John to Spring Pond. She told him to leave his car at home, just in case anyone was going to show up.

"Why do we have to go there so late?" John asked, trying to catch up with Terezi's pace.

"Trying to look if she actually did it. And… maybe to cover the clues if it's actually her." Terezi sounds unsure.

"You're planning to cover for her?" John asks in dubiety. 

"She can't go to jail. It'll ruin her life." 

"As if her life isn't already ruined." John says. "Why are you willing to do everything for her when she hadn't done much for you?" John puts a hand on her shoulder, to get her to look at him.

Terezi stops walking and tilts her head to the side. "You know, Gamzee asked me a similar question." She shook John's hand off her. "People don't like Vriska, not even her own mother likes her, and she doesn't have any friends. Tavros likes her, sure, but when he realizes that she can't change, he'll leave her."

"Do you think Vriska will change?" They continue to walk to the pond.

"No," Terezi answers without hesitation. "But I'll be there for her no matter what. We promised each other."

They had arrived at the place and lucky for them, there's no one there. Gamzee was sitting up in a tree, just in case anyone where to come unannounced. And he was right. He wondered why Terezi brought that boy with her. He has no business here, especially with her.

Gamzee scouts the area for one last time and then he climbs down the tree. "Hey, motherfuckers." He waved. 

"Gamzee! You fuck!" Terezi screamed. "What is up with you people scaring me?"

"Scream any louder and you might just alert someone." Gamzee commented. 

They walked through the woods, filled with tall trees and bushes. Gamzee guided them to the area. It has caution tapes around the place of the murder. The body had been taken away. 

Terezi takes her black gloves out and rummages through the dirt for any weapon or even a piece of fabric, or hair. Her finger bumps into a hard metallic object in the sand. Terezi picks it up and examines the object. It's Vriska's knife. 

"Terezi?" John calls. "Someone's coming." 

In the far distance they heard an old man talking to the police. "I saw them walking this way. " 

"Terezi, let's go!" John whisper-yelled at her, while pulling on her arm. 

"I have to find if there's more evidence!" She yelled back. 

The flashlight began to draw near where the three were. Gamzee, grabbed Terezi and John behind him as they ran to the right of the woods. They kept running until they saw to the end of the woods. When John tripped on his own two feet, Gamzee carried him as well. Heaving the two bodies as he ran didn the street away from the pond. 

Once they were far away enough, Gamzee dropped Terezi. "Ow! You could've been more gentle."

"We almost got caught because of you." John says. "Oh, my god. We almost went to jail!" 

Gamzee was leaning his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath from carrying two motherfuckers on his shoulders. Terezi looked at the knife in better light. It's cerulean blue with little webs on it. It just screams Vriska all over it. 

Terezi sits on the curb on the sidewalk. She can't believe she actually did it. Sure, Vriska gets mad but this is too far. Terezi knew that Vriska had a problem with weak people, even though she knew that Vriska herself was weak as well. Terezi began to tear up, knowing what's going to happen next. Both John and Gamzee notice Terezi crying on the curb and they go to comfort her. Mostly it was John trying to calm her down, while Gamzee just sits there staring at the sky.

"Hey,” John nudges at Gamzee’s arm. “Do something!"

"The fuck am I gonna do? If she wants to cry, she can cry." Gamzee says. "It ain't like I didn't tell her."

John ignored Gamzee statement and comforted her regardless. He figured she was taking this really hard. She must really like Vriska to be this upset over her.

As they sat on the curb, Terezi didn't know what to do next. She wiped her tears away and zoned out. John put a hand on her shoulder while realizing he put himself in a pretty bad situation with a now-killer Vriska. It would be more convenient if he just left Terezi alone with this whole ordeal, but he won't. Gamzee had planned what to do next for Vriska. This time, she won't get away.


End file.
